If this past New York Fashion Week had an MVP, it would be Cardi B, the chart-topping rapper whose “Bodak Yellow” served as the unofficial song of the summer. Appearing in the front rows at shows like Helmut Lang, Fenty x Puma, and Christian Siriano, she sent photographers into a frenzy, while her verses provided the soundtrack to the finale at Chromat. And she brought the house down with a performance at Alexander Wang’s Brooklyn #WangFest, generating enough raw enthusiasm to make guests forget the hour they’d just spent standing in pens waiting for the show to begin.

It’s that energy that sets Cardi B apart from her contemporaries. While she may have gotten initial exposure thanks to a stint on Love & Hip Hop: New York, the VH1 reality television sensation, she has since become a music star and bona fide fashion influencer. With a taste for pieces from Gucci, Versace, and Saint Laurent, she updates her millions of followers regularly with unconventional outfit snaps and cheeky videos. Eager to not just wear the latest trends but to set them, she gravitates toward an in-your-face aesthetic. “Libras like to take risks!” she said with a smile during a visit to Vogue’s offices. “I want to wear me. I want to wear something where people go, ‘Why is this bitch wearing a rectangle? Why does she have on a bra made of weed?’ ”

With the help of stylist Kollin Carter, Cardi has channeled her love of outré fashion into a distinctive look that can move seamlessly from sneakers and jeans during off-duty days back home in the Bronx to gilded gowns like the one she wore at last night’s Diamond Ball. Never one to self-censor, she delivers her opinions with wit and irreverence—two qualities that are always refreshing during fashion month.

On her favorite shopping destination:

“There are certain places that I will go to in Miami or L.A., but there is nothing like Fifth Avenue in New York. I could do a full stretch from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. I go from Madison all the way to Fifth, up and down. They have everything—it’s bigger and every designer has their own store; it’s not in some mall. You get three, four floors’ worth of Gucci, and if I go to Fifth Avenue, I always go to the Gucci store to see what they’ve got. I’m not into online shopping. It has to be in person and I have to try it on.”

On defying stereotypes through fashion:

“I do want be a little sexy. I’m a sexy bitch. I like a lot of LaQuan Smith’s things because they’re really well made to fit my body, so it looks sexy but not promiscuous. Now, there’s nothing wrong with looking promiscuous, but I’m just so tired of hearing that that’s how I look. You know, I used to be a dancer, so, yeah, of course, I show a lot of cleavage and everything. It’s just that I want people to also see that I could kill it wearing anything and everything.”

On her fashion inspirations:

“I love Lady Gaga. When I was in high school, I really wanted to dress like her. If you look at my yearbook, I did the whole hair bow, the black eyeliner, everything. That’s how I know a bitch knows how to dress, because I see it and I’m like, ‘You know what? I want to do that.’ I used to like how Madonna dressed, too. Rihanna, I like how she dresses [because] she looks effortless. Some things that work for her won’t work on me, though, because I’ve got big titties and an ass!”

“You can’t tell me that I can’t dress! I will make a bitch want to wear Timbs! Sometimes there’ll be people who go, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t wear that,’ but I’m not trying to hear it because one thing I do when I’m going to wear something is I’ll go ask my publicist, I’ll go ask my stylist, I’ll go ask my father, or my sister. Whoever the hell is around: ‘Does this look good together? Am I doing too much?’ I’m trying to keep things as simple as possible, because the one thing I do see sometimes [on the red carpet] is when people do too much.”

On her Alessandro Michele appreciation:

“I love Gucci so much. Oh my gosh. They’ve been fucking up the game for the past two years. I will always love Gucci, but I’m starting to see it a little too much on people where it makes no goddamn sense.”

On her matching her clothes to her ever-changing hair color:

“Whatever hair color I have on my head, that’s what decides what type of outfit I’m going to wear, because not everything goes with your hair color. That’s why I switch it up. The hair can’t come off, right? So I always think to myself, ‘I want to do this hair color next week,’ and then what I wear [coordinates] with that. Sometimes, I can go orange, but I can’t wear pink with orange. That ain’t going to look right. You know what I’m saying? The other day, I had bluish-grayish hair, so I really can’t wear red.

“Matter of fact, I need to go on Instagram and make a video like that, too, because I really don’t like when men talk about how women wear weaves. My real hair color is red—well, I dyed it red, at least, and I don’t want to change the color out. I cannot wear everything with my real natural hair, so I switch it up.”

On embracing bling:

“That’s one thing I can never change. I love bling, especially on my nails. It’s something where you don’t even have to know me; it’s just a conversation starter. It’s just like, ‘Oh, look at your nails.’ I could look bummy, but you know that I’m not bummy because my nails, it’s popping.”